Panel to look into merging parts of Secunderabad cantonment with Hyderabad corporation

With one of the densest civilian populations, of close to five lakh people spread over about 40.17 sq km, the Secunderabad cantonment is the second-largest in the country. A merger of its civilian localities with the adjoining municipal corporation has been a long-standing demand. With rapid growth in the rest of the Telangana capital, the civilian residents of the cantonment have feared they would be left behind.

Military stations span across nearly 5,400 of the 9,800 acres under the cantonment, and the rest are already developed colonies, slums and private lands. Rasoolpura, one of India’s largest slums and just a few kilometres from the chief minister’s office, is under the cantonment board.

“It is not just Secunderabad. The problem is the same in all cantonments. The Telangana government was quick to respond. The demerger of civilian localities is set to happen in all cantonments,” said Jeetender Surana, general secretary of the Secunderabad Cantonment Citizens’ Welfare Association (SCCiWA) and also a functionary of the All Cantonments’ Citizens’ Welfare Association.

As per the official communication, the secretary (municipal administration and urban development) to the state government; the ministry’s joint secretary (land and works); additional director-general (cantonments) of Directorate-General, Defence Estates; additional director-general (land, works and environment) at the Army headquarters; director of defence estates at the Southern Command, Pune; and the president and the CEO of the SCB are part of the committee. The committee, chaired by the ministry’s joint secretary (finance), is directed to submit its report in a month.

The committee’s constitution comes a week after chief secretary Somesh Kumar called on defence secretary A Giridhar in New Delhi to request the transfer of defence land for the state government to widen the roads and construct elevated corridors. On December 14, the state government conveyed its in-principle concurrence and “no-objection” to the excision and the cantonment board’s merger with adjoining municipalities.

Welcoming the move, SCCiWA president M L Agarwal thanked Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, state minister K T Rama Rao and all NGOs that supported the cause. “The current development is the result of a long and arduous journey traversed by civilians of the cantonment over many years. We hope all officials concerned will take positive decisions in the interest of the vast number of affected civilians as soon as possible,” he said.

SCCiWA general secretary Surana said the residents of the cantonment came together in 2014 to form an association to safeguard the interest of the civilians. “Defence Minister Arun Jaitley was very sympathetic towards our problems and assured us all support when we met him in 2014. In 2017, when we met Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar with a detailed representation, he assured us of a lasting resolution,” said Surana, adding that Defence Minister Nirmala Sitaraman had directed the formation of an expert committee in 2018.

Residents of colonies abutting the cantonment have been flagging connectivity issues since the military authorities have closed 21 roads inside the cantonment for reasons such as security concerns.

C S Chandrashekar, secretary of the Federation of North Eastern Colonies of Secunderabad, said the state government should take ownership of the entire road network inside the cantonment and not just the civilian areas. “We welcome the move but our only concern is about the many roads that are permanently closed by cantonment authorities by building walls. Our problem is connectivity. So we request the state government to take up the redesigning of the entire road network and implement development projects, including the strategic road development plan,” he said.

B T Srinivasan, general secretary of the United Federation of Resident Welfare Associations (Greater Hyderabad), too, welcomed the Union government’s decision. “But we have our own doubts about the local military authority allowing civilians to pass through the roads that were closed earlier once the cantonment’s civilian area is merged with the corporation,” he said.